SERMON XX. CHRISTMAS-DAY. 1 JOHN iii. 8. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." AMONG the festivals of our Church there is no one which is more universally considered as a season of joy and exultation, than Christmas; no one, more generally looked upon as a time of gladness and feasting, "and a good day, and of sending portions "one to another, and gifts to the poor'." There are, perhaps, few so ignorant as not to know, that the occasion of this joy and gladness is the recollection, that it was as at this time that the eternal Son of God took upon Him 1 Esther ix. 19, 22. the nature of man, and was born of a pure virgin; for of this signal event, not only the service of several weeks preceding, and that especially appointed for the day, but the holy songs and hymns which at this time are accustomed to be sung, are calculated to remind us. It is however possible, that many of those, who are sufficiently aware that this season is set apart for the purpose of commemorating the birth of Christ,—the first rising of the sun of righteousness,-the manifestation or appearance of the Son of God,may yet be ignorant of, or at least may have not properly considered, the cause of this manifestation. All such I would refer for information to the passage which I have selected for my text. The beloved Apostle of Christ there shortly tells us, what it was that induced his divine Master to leave the bosom of His Father, and the glory which he had with Him before the world was, and as at this time, to appear upon earth in the nature of man, "For this purpose," says he, "the Son of man was manifested, "that he might destroy the works of the "devil." It may, my friends, under the blessing of God, contribute in some measure to your spiritual improvement, if I enlarge a little upon this passage of St. John's first epistle, and endeavour to explain to you; First, what may be here understood by the works of the devil; Secondly, in what manner the manifestation of the Son of God tends to destroy these works; and then, from what I shall have advanced, to draw such practical inferences, as shall seem best calculated to quicken our diligence and zeal, in forwarding, so far as in us lies, the great purpose for which the Son of God condescended to become also the Son of man. We are, First, then to consider, what are meant by the works of the devil. It appears from the Holy Scriptures, that from the very beginning of things, the great aim and labour of the devil has been to effect the destruction, the eternal ruin of man. It was for this that he tempted our first parents; and that he has ever since la |